A Second Chance
by Kristenzila
Summary: Over 100 years has passed since 3x25 , and things have changed. A world wide war is being fought between the evolved humans amd humans, and Claire's left alone in the war as her cold and hardened future self, until a blast from her past comes back.


Prologue (Claire):

The wet dew slid off the leaves of the trees as the brunette ran through the forest. The branches hit against her body, the wood cutting into her skin, leaving the sticky sensation of blood beneath the tears in her leather. Not worrying about the soon to heal wounds, Claire pushed herself faster, needing to get past this scenery as quickly as she could.

A lot had changed for the now one hundred and twenty three year old woman since that distant day her life had began spiraling out of control. The insanity she faced way back then was nothing compared to what she was dealing with now. Issues with her family, not fitting in; at least back then she had a family and something to strive to fit in to. Now, she had nothing. No father to protect her, no mother to hug, no family or friends in general. She had herself, her wits, her healing, and her now hardened heart. That's all she could use to make it through the day, and strangely enough, for the past eighty or so years, she was able to make it through ever day comfortably. After being hurt and lied to so many times, it wasn't hard to heal with a brass shell around your heart, or to let that brass' rust grown thicker as the time passed.

Continuing through the trees, the healer's green eyes cautiously looked back into the distance. Dark and pine; it was all she could see. No explosion yet, but that wouldn't hold off too much longer. The bomb was set to go off on the small hidden facility at any time. She knew; she set it off.

The hidden company was one of the imany/i who were after evolved human. After the out coming of the President of The United States ireally/i being Sylar, one of America's most wanted (whether they knew it or not), people stopped being so accepting and thought it time to act. Slowly but surely, a new hunt turned into a war. No one ran; they all fought. In the begging, Claire was one of the many who tried to stop it, to fight for her rights, but that ended in a bust. After only ten short years, she lost everyone remotely close to her. Death took them all, all but Peter, but she hadn't a clue where he was today, anyhow.

Unlike in the begging, once Claire lost everyone, she took some time to evaluate what her choices in life were. In the end, she was so scared, she just, in a way, stopped caring. The fight, saving her kind, saving the iworld/i, it just stopped mattering to her. She figured out that all she had left was herself. When she put everyone else first, she ended up last, left in the dust and remains of what used to be a once happy life. Not anymore, though. The only person left who mattered to Claire was Claire; which was precisely why she had to get rid of the hidden facility in the first place. They were a threat to her. They knew where to find her, how to capture her; she couldn't let that happen. She'd be damned if she'd let them hold her in a cell for the rest of eternity.

Reaching the edge of the forest, Claire ran the small distance over the clearing of grass until she was able to look down off the edge of the cliff. The drop from where she stood to the rocky ocean was two hundred feet at least, not counting how far she was going to plummet into the ice cold and unwelcoming waves that were preparing to engulf her.

Claire let out a sigh, for the first time in a long time feeling scared of the unknown. Glancing down at the watch on her wrist, she took notice to the fact that she only had a minute and a half left before the bomb was going to go off, destroying everything in it's radius.

Knowing she had time, the hardened woman dropped to her knees, her hands digging in to the muddy grass before her as she starred off the ledge. Looking down from this height brought back memories that she had long turned off. Happy memories; the kind that almost managed to bring a smile to her face, but instead always left her in tears. Thinking of her old life was something she had long stopped doing; it wasn't worth the pain. But now, as her green hues scanned the scene, she felt an unfamiliar lump in her throat. She hadn't cried in so long, would she really do it now?

Closing her eyes, Claire spotted the tower she used to plummet from back in Odessa when she was too naive to understand what she really was. Once that memory fluttered away, she saw herself jumping from numerous windows; she had a bad habit of doing that rather than running to a door like a normal angst driven teenager.

All of these flashbacks left Claire's brain spinning, but the next one to show put her over the edge, bringing the first tear in eighty or so years to her eyes. The view from on top of the Hollywood sign was glorious. The city looked divine from such great height, like a work of art. Even while freefalling, she wasn't scared, for she knew being scared with the angel beside her was a silly feeling to have. Being caught, being lifted, being kissed; Claire could feel it all, she could nearly taste his skin, smell his hair, feel his warmth.

Abruptly, Claire opened her eyes before the memories could continue. Thinking about ihim/i was never a good thing to do; it came with too much pain to bare, especially after what had happened, the night she'd never forget.

Pulling herself to her feet, the brunette glanced back down at her watch. iFifteen seconds./i Claire's eyes widened, she had pushed her luck. Taking in a deep breath, she tilted her head up, her gaze taking in the night sky. Unable to help but notice through her teary eyes, she witnessed a shooting star passing through, leaving it's brilliant mark on the dark black background. With a cold chuckle, Claire closed her eyes. iI wish for another chance at my old life,/i she though sarcastically.

Hearing an explosion, Claire quickly regrouped herself. Leaning forward, she let gravity take it's course, pulling her body off the edge and plummeting down, just in time to avoid the massacre she had just caused.


End file.
